The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to electrical wires that have a bundle of plural electrical conductors therein.
Electrical terminals are often used to terminate the ends of wires. Such electrical terminals typically include an electrical contact and a crimp barrel. The crimp barrel includes an opening that receives an end of the wire therein. The crimp barrel is crimped around the end of the wire to establish an electrical connection between electrical conductors in the wire and the terminal as well as to mechanically hold the electrical terminal on the wire end. When crimped over the wire end, the crimp barrel establishes an electrical and mechanical connection between the conductors of the wire and the electrical contact.
Conductors of wires are often fabricated from copper, copper alloys, copper clad steel, etc. However, as the cost of copper has risen, aluminum represents a lower cost alternative conductor material. Aluminum also has a lighter weight than copper, so aluminum represents a lower weight alternative conductor material as well. But, using aluminum as a conductor material is not without disadvantages. For example, one disadvantage of using aluminum as a conductor material is the formation of a tightly adherent, poorly conductive oxide layer on the exterior surface of the conductor when the conductor is exposed to atmosphere. In addition, build-up of surface contaminants from processing steps may further inhibit surface conductivity. Such oxide and/or other surface contaminant layers may be formed on other conductor materials, but can be especially difficult to deal with for aluminum.
Accordingly, such exterior conductor surface oxide layers must be penetrated to contact the aluminum material to establish a reliable electrical connection between a wire and an electrical terminal and/or to establish a reliable electrical connection between different conductors of the wire. For example, as a conductor wipes against another conductor and/or the electrical terminal during crimping, at least a portion of the oxide layer of the conductor(s) may be displaced to expose the aluminum material of the conductor(s). But, it may be difficult to displace enough of the oxide layer during the crimping operation to achieve a sufficient electrical and mechanical bond, and thereby establish a reliable electrical connection, especially for larger diameter wires that include a greater amount of electrical conductors. A need remains for enhancing the electrical connections between multiple electrical conductors and/or between electrical conductors and the terminal to improve the conductive properties of the wire and any terminal assembly including the wire.